What’s behind the name of this once small village community in the Wilmington area? Turns out there are a few stories.
Ogden, a census-designated place in New Hanover County and suburb of Wilmington, could have been called Baymeade, if the late Lila Peterson, a long-time resident of Middle Sound, could have a vote.
According to Nola Nadeua’s book “Ogden, Porters Neck, Scotts Hill,” Peterson believed the area should have been named the same name as the railroad station.
Tradition is that the community of Ogden was named after an early landowner named Solomon Ogden, who was from Onslow County and secured a sizable chunk of Middle Sound through a land grant.
In 1950, the name for the village ― Ogden ― was officially adopted when the state road commission wanted to name the villages along its highways.
Emma Murray, an historian with long-time connections in the region, has another version of how Ogden got its name. Murray says Richard Ogden, an early resident of the community, was granted several hundred acres on both sides of the road where he resided in the area for many years.